It's Friday I'm Not Optimised: Trans Rights, Pride and Stephen Bartlett's 3 Glasses of Wine

It's Friday I'm Not Optimised: Trans Rights, Pride and Stephen Bartlett's 3 Glasses of Wine

It's Pride Month, so naturally everyone's arguing about toilets. This week we get into the new EHRC guidance on single-sex spaces, what it actually says about the trans toilet debate, and why we don't think this was ever the crisis it's been sold as. We also dig out the quiet bits nobody covered: the protections around breastfeeding, menopause and pregnancy. Then we turn to Stephen Bartlett's viral confession that three glasses of wine ruined his life, and the bigger question of whether tracking and optimising every waking moment is wellness or just a very expensive new way to feel like a failure. Dry, funny, no advice, no wellness. In this episode:00:12 – The Moan In: rogue capital letters, sneaky sports bra pads, "you never call me," and Gem's vanishing memory.13:37 – The new EHRC guidance on single-sex spaces, the toilet debate, and why we think this was never the crisis it's sold as.38:17 – Stephen Bartlett's three glasses of wine, and whether tracking and optimising everything is wellness or a new way to feel like a failure. Follow us:@FridayImInBedPodcast [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbedpodcast] | @GemmaSeager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager/]| @FearlessAt50 [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50/]Get The Zine, our weekly newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc] Topics covered: EHRC guidance, single-sex spaces, trans rights, gender recognition certificates, the toilet debate, Pride Month, breastfeeding protections, menopause, pregnancy and maternity, Stephen Bartlett, three glasses of wine, sobriety, wellness culture, tracking, optimisation, biohacking, diet culture, midlife women.

It's Friday I'm Nonnamaxxing: Gemma Collins, SEND Support & Living Like an Italian Grandmother

This week on Friday I'm In Bed we get into nonnamaxxing, the TikTok trend telling twenty-somethings to live like an Italian grandmother, and ask whether it's lost wisdom or just wellness culture with a tomato plant. We also unpack the backlash to the Department for Education's post-16 campaign fronted by Gemma Collins, and why parents and teachers called it tone-deaf on SEND support. Plus another round of the Moan In. Dry, funny, midlife cultural commentary, no advice and no wellness sermons. In this episode * (00:12) The Moan In: the heat, paid online returns, gym etiquette and Instagram drops * (09:41) The Gemma Collins SEND education campaign and why parents are furious * (35:45) Nonnamaxxing: living like an Italian grandmother explained Follow us on Instagram:@FridayImInBed [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbedpodcast]@GemmaSeager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager]@FearlessAt50 [ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50/⁠] Sign up to The Zine [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc⁠], our newsletter, for more midlife cultural commentary Topics covered: nonnamaxxing, Italian grandmother trend, maxxing, TikTok trends, Mediterranean lifestyle, tradwife, loneliness, Gemma Collins, Department for Education, SEND support, post-16 education, Bridget Phillipson, midlife women.

It's Friday I'm Not Here for the Drama: MAFS UK, Consent and Adult Gap Years

Content note: the first topic discusses sexual assault. There is a warning at the top of that section and chapter markers if you would like to skip ahead.Married at First Sight UK has been pulled from Channel 4 after three former brides made allegations against their on-screen husbands. We use it as a way into a bigger question: what does reality TV actually ask people to consent to? This week also brings a new segment, the Moan-In, where we rule on the small things winding us up, from subscriptions to badly designed pub toilets. And we get into the very tempting idea of the adult gap year, prompted by reports that Tess Daly wanted time out to travel. Along the way: the BBC Panorama investigation, the Jeremy Kyle and Love Island welfare scandals, contestant consent and image rights signed away forever, and whether your 50s are the perfect time to step back and reinvent. If anything in this episode affected you: Samaritans, free on 116 123, or Rape Crisis England and Wales, free on 0808 500 2222. Follow us: 🎙 Podcast: ⁠@FridayImInBed⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbed/] 💋 Gemma: ⁠@GemmaSeager⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager/] ✨ Kate: ⁠@FearlessAt50⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50/] 💌 Subscribe to The Zine for bonus content and Friday extras: ⁠https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc⁠ [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc]

It's Friday I'm Still in Trauma from P.E.

At what point does commenting on women’s bodies stop being something we all just do, and start being the actual problem? This week we look at how school PE shaped a generation of women’s relationships with their own bodies — and why 4.1 million British women in their 50s and 60s are still avoiding exercise because of it. Then Kate takes us to Olivia Rodrigo’s baby doll dress and the internet meltdown that followed. Age UK’s new “Act Now, Age Better” campaign builds on research showing 40% of women aged 50-65 still remember feeling self-conscious in school PE, 40% were picked last for teams, and almost half dreaded the lesson. Gem (40-something personal trainer, regular parkrunner) takes us through what’s really being asked of midlife women when the wellness industry says “just move more.” Then Kate traces Olivia Rodrigo’s baby doll dress back through its history — 1940s pin-up, 60s mod, 90s grunge — and asks why female performers are still expected to wear less than the men they share stages with. Plus the bit nobody quite wants to say out loud: when does objecting to what women wear stop being a feminist concern and start being its own form of policing? Follow us: 🎙 Podcast: @FridayImInBed [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbed/] 💋 Gemma: @GemmaSeager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager/] ✨ Kate: @FearlessAt50 [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50/] 💌 Subscribe to The Zine for bonus content and Friday extras: https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc] Helpful links: * Age UK Act Now, Age Better campaign: ageuk.org.uk/actnow [https://www.ageuk.org.uk/actnow] * Age UK's full research on PE trauma: press release [https://www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-press/articles/millions-in-midlife-put-off-exercise-for-life-by-school-pe-lessons---as-new-campaign-from-age-uk-calls-on-the-nation-to-act-now-age-better/] * Women's Running coverage: womensrunning.co.uk/news/act-now-age-better [https://www.womensrunning.co.uk/news/act-now-age-better/]

It's Friday I'm Not Growing Old Alone

This week on Friday I'm in Bed; we're looking at two ends of the spectrum- young people who aren't going out, and older women working out who they actually want to live the rest of their lives with. Different demographics, same quiet rewriting of the script. Kate kicks us off with the slow death of going out. A pint has hit £10 in some places, two pubs a day are closing in the UK, and a quarter of late-night venues have shut since 2020. Gen Z, broadly, isn't picking up the slack- they're at the gym, they're on coffee, they're saving for houses, and they don't fancy ending up as a blurry shape in someone else's TikTok story. We get into cost of living, sober curiosity, the think-25 rule, and the Mediterranean model of slow evenings, family, and food that we keep gesturing at. Gem fondly remembers a bottle of La Mancha and ten Silk Cut for under a fiver. Kate remembers her mum giving her taxi money she absolutely did not spend on a taxi. Then Gem brings us the story of Pat Dunn, a Canadian woman who, after losing her husband and finding herself googling how to live safely in her car at 70, set up a Facebook group looking for housemates. It now has hundreds of members and has paired up dozens of older women into shared homes. We use it as a springboard for the bigger question: who are we actually planning to grow old alongside, and why do we keep assuming the answer is a husband or kids? We talk about the pension gap, the 1 in 5 over-50s in the UK without children, the 70% of over-65s living alone who are women, and Gem's conversation with a friend about writing each other into wills. There's a Golden Girls scenario for everyone. Follow us on Instagram @FridayImInBed [https://www.instagram.com/fridayiminbed] @GemmaSeager [https://www.instagram.com/gemmaseager] @FearlessAt50 [https://www.instagram.com/fearlessat50] Sign up to The Zine for bonus bits and useful links https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc [https://mailchi.mp/a0c1ccf41dd8/ifww96xyhc] Topics covered: pub closures UK, £10 pint, Gen Z drinking habits, sober curious, late-night venues closing, Mediterranean drinking culture, grassroots music venues, Senior Women Living Together, Pat Dunn, older women co-housing, female friendship in midlife, ageing without children, chosen family, women's pensions gap, planning for retirement. Helpful links * Senior Women Living Together (Pat Dunn's organisation) [https://swlt.ca] * Ageing Without Children [https://awoc.org.uk] * Older Women's Co-Housing (OWCH) [https://owch.org.uk] * Gateway Women / Childless Collective [https://gateway-women.com]